Agreement reached at the UN Biodiversity Conference

Consultations on biodiversity UN conference reaches agreement after tough negotiations As of: October 31, 2026 • 8:09 a.m

How can biodiversity be protected? This was discussed intensively at the UN Biodiversity Conference. In the end, there was an agreement in Armenia - although not a particularly ambitious one.

After a night of negotiations, an agreement was finally reached at the UN Biodiversity Conference in Armenia. However, the wording in the final documents was weakened and some passages were deleted again.

Russia, among others, had blocked many points. For example, references to human rights, climate-damaging subsidies and the UN High Seas Convention were controversial. A compromise on the right to have a say for indigenous people was fought until the end. A paper was also adopted that sets out strategies for accelerating the implementation of species protection goals by 2030.

According to the UN conference on the protection of species, 30 percent of the earth should be protected by nature by 2030. But is that enough? more

Some environmental organizations expressed relief that an agreement could be reached on final documents. Overall, however, the organizations and scientists rate the resolutions as unambitious.

The agreement was “not particularly exciting or detailed,” said Catherine Weller from the organization Fauna & Flora to the AFP news agency. Kirsty Leong from WWF International spoke of a result with strengths and weaknesses that was overall positive.

Germany had advocated that more states should pay for nature conservation in poorer countries - such as the Gulf states, which have become richer in recent decades. However, the final text only invites states to make voluntary contributions.

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The UN Biodiversity Conference takes place every two years. Ecuador will host the next meeting in 2028. The South American country narrowly defeated Panama in a secret vote. Ecuador received 55 votes, Panama 53.

The approximately 200 contracting states to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity discuss measures to combat species extinction and the loss of natural habitats at the conferences. The host country organizes the conference and leads the negotiations. The meetings are independent of the annual UN climate conferences.

With information from Simon Plentinger, BR

This topic in the program: tagesschau.de | UN Biodiversity Conference agrees on final documents | October 31, 2026 | 06:54